UEFA will modify the regulations and also the Champions League

UEFA could modify for the next season of the Champions League and the Europa League the rule of the double value of the goals scored as a visitor in extra time, maintaining the rule in the 90 minutes of play, as revealed this Wednesday by the English press. In that sense, the British newspaper The Sun said that the measure could be approved next Friday, within the framework of the meeting of the UEFA competitions committee.

Until now, in the knockout rounds, in the event that the overall result at the end of the two matches was a draw, the team that had scored the most away goals was classified and if they remained tied, 30 minutes of overtime were played, in which the goals of the visiting team continued to have a double value.

Now, with this new decision, the system would consider that the goals achieved in extra time would have the same value, whether they were scored by the visiting team or the home team. In this way, if in overtime both teams achieved the same number of goals, they would proceed to the launch of shots from the penalty spot, since it would be too much advantage for the visitor to add a goal in the extra time and that he practically defines himself the tie.

Changes in the Champions League

The changes to the Champions League, which are expected to be radical, will dominate the discussions. The number of clubs participating in the group stage is expected to increase from the current 32 to 36, with space for two “wild cards” that would enter according to their FIFA rankings.

The existing kickoff format, consisting of eight groups of four teams, will be completely altered: instead, UEFA is expected to introduce a single group and a format known as the 'Swiss system', which will see the teams play 10 games instead of the current six. In this plan, no team will face anyone more than once in a system most used in chess.

The teams that finish in the first eight positions will advance to the round, the last 12 will be eliminated and the teams that finish between ninth and 24th place will go on to play a two-game playoff to decide the last eight places in the next phase. That is, of the initial 36, 16 will qualify for the round of 16.

The following phases will then take place in the same way as now (direct elimination round-trip matches), but the changes will mean a large increase in the number of matches played, with a team that reaches the final playing a minimum of 17 matches against 13 in the current format. The consequences are a huge increase in the total number of matches played, from 125 to 225, and the total number of group stage matches will increase from 96 to 180.